Stop & Smell the Roses...Or Kneel & Watch the Leaves...it's all the Same!

Photo courtesy of going-places-blog.com

One of the things I love most about motherhood is having Jace remind me of the things we take for granted as adults. It not only allows me to see God in a loving, creative and sovereign way; but it adds some spontaneity to my life. It teaches me what the all-too-famous, yet hard-to-understand cliché, “stop and smell the roses,” means. We took a walk outside today, much like we usually do; me on foot and him in the stroller. All of a sudden, from behind, I saw him sit up straight and his head going very quickly from side to side. I leaned forward to look at him, and his face was the most intense that I had ever seen it, still going from left to right with wonder. I stood up and looked around…nothing…I saw absolutely nothing. We rolled on, only for him to do the same thing again. I looked again…nothing. We continued on. Why is he doing it again!!? It just doesn’t make sense! I leaned forward, looked him in the eye (although he never looked back at me) and followed his eyes with precision. The only way, though, for me to see clearer was for me to kneel down and align myself with his eye-line. When I did that, I saw it, I saw it! And I smiled…then I laughed. So what was it? Well, he was in sheer amazement at the leaves running down the street, with the wind at their backs…hustling and bustling, barely touching the ground. They looked like kids racing, playing and laughing. Well, at least that’s what I saw. He saw members of nature rustling, making sounds foreign to his little ears, dancing a jig that his eyes have never seen…and he was utterly captivated…something we should all be at God’s marvelous, artistic and entertaining creation. There are so many opportunities for us to have heart-lifting moments; get a smile without having to give anything in return; or be reminded that there is a sovereign creator who thought of everything we would need to be reminded that He created it all. We often miss these opportunities, busied by things that seem far more important…and in doing so, we miss God. 

Today I stopped and smelled the roses. Well, I knelt and watched the leaves; but the end result was the same. I had a splice of spontaneity added to my day, a nice quick dose of dancing leaves that brought a huge smile to my face and a chuckle to my voice. Before that, I was simply walking…and thinking…and doing what I usually do, very routinely and quite mundanely. And before I knew it, after a little exploration and determination to see what caught the attention of a fascinated babe…I found it…God, running on the ground right before my eyes, telling me to stop, look, and listen…to take a moment to run and play and dance. And I did. I grabbed the handles of the stroller, ran down the street so Jace could feel the air on his face, and inadvertently I felt the air on mine. Boy, have I missed what it feels like to marvel at something. He laughed…and I laughed…and we laughed. And that was a special moment. Thank you, Jace, for that lovely and easy and heart-lifting reminder. Mommy needed that!